Visit of projects part 2

Thanks to the first visit we can see a nursery school whose teacher’s salary is financed by the CCF. This school also gets a support from a French association which has provided various equipments (tables, blackboards, exercise books ...). The CCF has also provided a tape recorder which allows the children to dance round on a traditional music. Two of them sing a little song “a capella”. I had seen Srath slip away during the song, he comes back carrying two packets of biscuits bought in the shop near by. The teacher quickly gives them out to the children who are pleased to have this snack.

The next step takes us to a plant making products out of fruit. This small factory which employs 25 workers, mainly women, produces fruit juices, extracts, fruit drinks and jams. The plant was installed one year and a half ago and the production started four months ago. Most of the products being seasonal, they also import pulp in cans so that they can be sure of a regular activity. If the machines are rather old, the cleanness of the place corresponds totally with the sanitary standards. We speak to the manager of the plant who explains to us that the next step consist in getting an autoclave in order to sell sterilized products. He also intends to increase his own production of pulp in order to limit the importations. They also act in favour of the recycling of the containers. A unit should be built soon on the same site where there is a lot of place available. Before going back we do some shopping (mango jam, papaya and passion fruit drinks).
Helami and Kumara take us to see a house under construction. There too, the former house still occupied is next to the new one. It’s a family composed of two adults and two children. The woman welcomes us, her husband is at sea for he is a fisherman. We are surprised to see, hung up on one pillar of the new house, a scarecrow made out of old clothes. Srath explains to us that it is to chase the evil eye. We’ll see several of them here and there.
The old house is really in a bad state., the roof is made with coconut leaves which prevents from having electricity installed because of the risk of fire. I take a photo of the kitchen very basic with an open fire. Our host insists about offering us coffee and biscuits, bananas and mangos served with cooking salt. The welcome is always the same: these people who have nothing or almost nothing make a point of honour to receive us the best way possible. We accept more by respect than by hunger for at each visit it’s the same. We don’t feel like refusing all these attentions showed so kindly.
Our next visit is a banana plantation. We come into a site of about one hectare devoted to bananas but also to papayas. Another family with two children (it seems to be a national average). The couple run this parcel by their own and sell their products on the market and to the plant we visited a little earlier. The CCF made it possible to develop the irrigation system particularly invaluable in this dry area of the country. Hemali tells me that one of the daughters is sponsored by a Thaï. We taste a papaya recently picked up and prepared by the mother. She then presents us a plate made with a banana leaf. It’s a question of finding a new outlet and diversifying their activity. For the moment it’s only a  prototype which has to be improved. She built herself the machine used to mark the bottom of the plate.
We are expected at the CCF office of Kirinda to have lunch and it is nearly 2.00 pm when we go back to the minibus, but we are not hungry with all what we’ve eaten since breakfast. While reminding the projects we visited in the morning, I watch the scenery passing by through the window. The way seems vaguely familiar to me when in the distance I recognize a small house in front of which is a turned over boat. I sit up and look with concentration: no doubt we’re passing in front of Sandeepa’s house. The vehicle stops but I still don’t understand. Maybe Kumara must get something back or we just drop in to say hello. But everybody gets off the bus and at that moment I understand when seeing the big table dressed again: we’re having lunch at Sandeepa’s home! No need to tell you how surprised and glad we are. Hemali has a quick look in our direction, pleased of the surprise. They tell me that Sandeepa had started to cry because she didn’t see us coming - it is 2.30 pm -  and everybody except us knew about this non official programme. Sandeepa is wearing the skirt offered by Gaëlle and the bracelet made by Tifène. Being so happy of the reunion I hadn’t noticed them immediately. Like the day before, she presents us a tray with a glass of water put on it; we put our hand onto the tray, meaning that we accept her invitation to have lunch. The meal is even more relaxed than the day before. We nibble because our stomachs are already partly full. I nevertheless leave some room for this she-buffalo cottage cheese topped with palm syrup; still a delight ...Sandeepa went to school this morning, so I ask her what she did. With the help of a CCF volunteer I leaf through her exercise books where calculations, writing pages and drawing follow one another. Then Sandeepa takes the slate offered to her the day before and draws her parents. The mother’s necklace very much looks like Lydie’s and the father’s hair is curly ... disturbing.
The lunch comes to an end and we set off agin to visit the old temple of Kirinda. It’s an option we would have gladly removed from our programme for we are not very interested in these touristy visits and after two days in a minibus and visits of all kinds, we would have, no doubt, preferred the comfort of a deckchair by the swimming-pool. But we don’t think of that for a long time for when it’s time to go, Sandeepa and Malani get into the vehicle too. I had forgotten there was no school in the afternoon and once more it’s a total surprise. Therefore it’s in a totally different mood that we go to the temple. Sandeepa sits between Lydie and me. Lydie takes the opportunity to readjust the bracelet around her little wrist. When getting off the minibus we take our shoes off to go up to the temple. Our European soles are not used to a direct contact with the ground, especially under these temperatures. Srath and Kumara explain to us the basis of the Buddhist religion which is the main religion in this country and its links with the Hindu religion. After a little offering in the Hindu temple, supposed to bring us the good graces of the heaven, we go down to the shore walking on a series of big rocks. Under the group’s curious eye I improvise a hopscotch game in the sand for Sandeepa. I hardly have time to show her and she hardly has to play that the rising tide washes off my drawing under Kumara’s laughter. On the way back, we make a short stop in the office of Kirinda to drop Kumara. He invites me inside to sign the visitors’ books, Sandeepa comes with me; it’s difficult to express all these things in English. I do my best in the sticky heat of the office. Meanwhile, Malani and Lydie wait for us in front of the office sharing moments of tacit complicity.